“What are you two lovely ladies doing here?” Gabby asks, wiping her hands on her coveralls and smiling in our direction.
“We thought we’d come and say hello, see what it’s like in here and check out these bikers you talk so much about.”
“Well, you just met Beckett, there are more where that came from.”
I pretend to fan myself and Gabby laughs, then her face goes a little softer and she leans in close. “Rhett told me what happened out there a few days ago. I’m really sorry.”
I feel the smile disappear off my face. “Thanks, it has been tough.”
“I’m glad you decided to stay, it’s so important. He has worked so hard to get that place up and running, if you all left it would ... it would destroy it before it even began.”
Well damn.
I’m feeling a little guilty for being so upset at Rhett now.
No wonder he’s pissy.
I would be, too.
It’s his life’s work, after all.
“You don’t happen to have a break coming up, do you?” I ask Gabby.
“I do. Go over to Eve’s and I’ll come over, I just have to finish this up.”
I smile. “Sounds perfect.”
I’m more than happy to go back over and chat to Eve.
In fact, all of these girls are great.
This place ... It’s just something else entirely.
Like a different world where good people exist.
I could stay here forever.
13
“So, Rhett is being a jerk?” Gabby asks, sipping her coffee after taking a bite of her sandwich.
“Yeah, I get it, so I’m trying not to get too upset about it but I also never meant to hurt him, he has to know that. We didn’t mean for anything bad to go down. We weren’t trying to run his business into the ground. We’re not that vindictive that we’d do something so awful.”
Gabby pauses. “He knows that. Rhett just doesn’t deal with things all that well, it’s something you get used to. He gets angry, that’s how he expresses himself when things are too much. If you want any advice from me, give it back to him. Don’t let him walk all over you, always fight back because he will come down from it and he will realize what he has done wrong.”
“Oh, believe me, I fought back.”
Gabby laughs. “Good girl.”
“I don’t think that’s all it is, though. I did accidentally see something and I think he’s worried I might talk.”
I know I’m taking a risk here, because I know if Gabby tells Rhett what I’m about to tell her, this could all blow up, but the only way I can try and find out what Rhett and the guys are up to, and if they may have had some involvement in all of this, is to ask the one person who knows him best these questions. So, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
“You saw something? Like what?”
I hesitate, glancing at Kara. She nods.
“The thing is, I didn’t tell him I saw it and I don’t want to cause problems if he finds out ...”
Gabby puts a hand up. “I won’t say anything, he’s my best friend but I’m not a snitch. You can tell me.”
God, I hope the vibe this girl is giving off is right.
I swallow and then tell her everything I saw that night at the house the night Taj died. She listens intently, and when I’m done, she gives me a small smile. “Look, I shouldn’t be telling you this because technically you’re guests of his and if I tell you, it could potentially ruin everything he has created, but I’m going to trust that this will stay between us?”
I nod. Kara nods.
“Before the ranch retreat, it was just a ranch. The guys operated a lot of things in and out of that place, not all of those things were legal. They’re ... god, how do I put this, they’re not bad guys so please don’t think they are, but they have their fingers in a lot of pies and they do a lot of selling and buying that isn’t always above board, so to speak. I know this because they’re currently doing business with the club.”
Oh.
Well, I mean that makes sense but ... they trade illegally? Come to think of it, they do look like they’ve done a few things in their time that are probably not the greatest, but why would you risk everything by starting up a business that could fail if someone found out. I mean, they were doing it right there in the house ...
“I’m not judging, what they do behind closed doors is none of my business, my only thing is I saw it, quite freely and what I saw was pretty intense. It could ruin his business if the wrong person saw it, which makes me wonder if Taj saw something he shouldn’t have ...”